Thunderbolt is the flagship interface on Apple computers. It’s an interface that’s codeveloped by Apple and Intel and heavily outperforms even USB 3.0. With the amazing bandwidth and opportunity for daisy-chaining, it’s Thunderbolt that deserves all the spotlight. About Daisy-Chaining Most peripherals in the store will only need a small fraction of the speed and throughput that Thunderbolt has to offer. Daisy-chaining is a technique to use this remainder and connect several devices to a single Thunderbolt port. Daisy-chaining starts by connecting a single Thunderbolt device to your computer. If this device supports daisy-chaining, it may offer an additional Thunderbolt port that can be used to...

The technology industry is rife with buzzwords. The packaging of a computer or computer hardware is crowded with technical terms and badges. One of the more prominent ones is 64-bit. So, it begs the question, what exactly does 64-bit mean? What does it imply? And, most importantly, what does it mean for you? This article serves as both a technical and practical explanation about nature of 64-bit computing. What is 64-bit Computing? Information in computers is normally represented in bits, a binary sequence (what’s binary?) of ones and zeros. The more bits you have, the more information you can represent....

A password manager is a great asset — perhaps even essential — for any computer system. Not only does it help increase the overall security of your system, it can make everyday interactions a lot more convenient as well. Security and ease of use; it’s a win-win situation. With so many options out there, the only question remains which password manager suits you best. RoboForm RoboForm is one of the most established password managers and a major player in the field. For the past couple of years, a renewed interest in privacy and security has given birth to many alternative...

Plex finally added one of its most requested features: movie trailers. With the latest release of Plex Media Server and Plex Home Theater, general trailer and extras support was rolled out to Plex users on most platforms. These extras can cover anything you’d usually find on a DVD or Blu-Ray disk, including interviews, deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes content. More impressive features were released exclusively to Plex Pass users (Plex’ premium subscription service). This latest update brings functionality a lot of users have been waiting for. Trailers and Extras Trailer and extras support is currently found in Plex Home Theater, the web app, Android and iOS applications. Other platforms...

DNS servers are the intermediate agents that resolve human-readable URLs to IP addresses. By using alternate DNS servers that are geographically closer, or that use more efficient caching methods, you can significantly speed up your browsing. DNS Tunnelling, on the other hand, is a great way to access region-blocked content. If you’re using Windows as your operating system, there’s just one catch. Changing your DNS settings is a needlessly convoluted task. Configuring it once is worse enough, but switching between different DNS profiles frequently is almost out of the question. Luckily, third-party tools like ChrisPC DNS Switch are able to introduce much-needed flexibility. ChrisPC DNS Switch ChirsPC...

Of all the software that ships with Mac OS X, Preview is one of the best pieces of software. It’s easy to use and very powerful, with a veritable wealth of features and possibilities. However, there are a couple of areas where it appears lacking: lightweight previews and quickly browsing through a large amount of images. Luckily, some of the other third-party image viewers are more than up for the job. Xee³ ($3.99) Xee³ is a simple, but versatile image viewer. The interface is lightweight, with the larger portion of screen real estate going to the image and a only small toolbar dedicated to...

You may have noticed it, but don’t know what it does. You may have used it, but it doesn’t appear as a shortcut in Finder. Library folders are central OS X structures. Most are best left alone, but it’s useful to know your way in and around the User Library. Mac OS X Library Folders Most of the files you use on a daily basis are located in one of several popular home subdirectories: Downloads, Documents or Desktop. These are the files you actively use and move around; pictures, documents and downloaded files. Applications and system processes keep their data — cached mail, default desktop backgrounds...

The Downloads folder is often one of the most cluttered and disorganised places to be. With new files appearing regularly and often ignored soon after, it quickly grows past a manageable size and becomes a maze of lost and forgotten files. It’s best to keep your Downloads folder clean and organised, but it’s a dull and altogether too frequent task. It only makes sense to let your computer take a share of the burden and have it clean your Downloads folder automatically. 1. Smart Folders Smart folders aren’t really folders at all (they are in fact saved searches), but you can use them as...

You can only cram so much into a graphical user interface before it becomes cluttered, so it should come as no big surprise that you can do some really cool things using the Mac Terminal. After you’ve learned the basic Terminal commands and geeked out with some funny Terminal easter eggs, you might wonder what else this slick beauty can do for you. 1. Lower Your Mac’s Wake Up Time You probably noticed how your MacBook sometimes takes an age to wake up from sleep, especially when you’ve been away from your keyboard for some time. This is due to Mac OS X’s standby mode, which is a deep lumber that your...

]]>http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/these-6-awesome-terminal-commands-will-boost-your-macbook/feed/3macbook-terminal-boost-bannerWhat Is Mac OS X FileVault & How Do I Use It?http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-is-mac-os-x-filevault-how-do-i-use-it/
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-is-mac-os-x-filevault-how-do-i-use-it/#commentsWed, 28 May 2014 13:00:00 +0000http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=342194

You might feel safe when you have set a password on your Mac OS X account, but the truth is it’s more of a formality; a deterrent for people with temporary access to your computer. It will suffice when you leave your computer on at home, or grab a drink in the library, but someone with the prerequisite knowledge and a bit of time could still access your data. In truth, a password only keeps someone from logging into and accessing the operating system, but your hard disk is not similarly encrypted. With an Ubuntu boot disk, or by putting...

]]>http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-is-mac-os-x-filevault-how-do-i-use-it/feed/2filevault-bannerAnyone Can Download Apps From The US App Store: Here Is Howhttp://www.makeuseof.com/tag/anyone-can-download-apps-from-the-us-app-store-here-is-how/
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/anyone-can-download-apps-from-the-us-app-store-here-is-how/#commentsWed, 14 May 2014 19:00:00 +0000http://www.makeuseof.com/?p=340970

Many developers target the US App Store first and foremost, and due to licensing restrictions, sometimes it’s the only place you can download new apps for a long time. To get access to those apps, you’ll want a US iTunes account – but that’s trickier than it sounds as Apple is not eager to accept international PayPal accounts or credit cards. You need to jump through some hoops to create a US iTunes account and add funds to it, but if you know how, anyone can download and enjoy apps from the US App Store. Why You Can’t Just Change Your Account’s Country Maybe your...

Managing the Android APK files yourself means you get more support and flexibility. You can track down and install an older version of an application, before an update rendered it unusable on your older smartphone, look for apps outside of your region, or even install apps that are not yet available on the Google Play store. AppWererabbit Prominently featured in Kannon Yamada’s list of The Best Free Apps from XDA Developers, AppsWererabbit is the swiss army knife of APK managers; an all-in-one toolset to back up, export, import and manage Android APKs. Apart from being incredibly powerful, AppWererabbit is also beautifully designed...

Most modern smartphones are equipped with Wi-Fi tethering, which allows you to share your phone’s data connection with a computer over Wi-Fi (yes, even Windows Phones). Theoretically, Android phones can also be tethered over USB instead of Wi-Fi. This has a number of advantages; you won’t get interference from other wireless devices, and the difference in latency is remarkable. On Windows this usually works as advertised, but Mac OS X is missing some essential USB network drivers. Without those drivers, Android USB tethering is essentially unusable. This incompatibility is rarely mentioned by Google and Apple alike (as in: not at all),...

Sony made a host of improvements to their controller, with the PlayStation 4’s DualShock 4. It seems slightly smaller, but the handholds are thicker, giving it a markedly more comfortable grip. The joysticks have been modified too, now convex and with a button click that’s easier to trigger. These and other changes make the DualShock 4 controller a joy to use. While we wait for PlayStation 4 games to grow in number, we’ll also show you how to use the DualShock 4 on your Mac or PC. 1. Connect the DualShock 4 to a PC Using your DualShock 4 on...

More is not always better, but it’s probably true in terms of screen real estate. The iMac scores a lot of points in that area; one of its biggest strengths being the big, vibrant screen it sports. Even if you don’t use the iMac as your main computer (anymore), you can put that screen to work using the iMac’s Target Display Mode. Target Display Mode Realising its potential, Apple first introduced Target Display Mode for the 27″ 2009 iMacs running Mac OS X 10.6.1 or later. As the name implies, TDM allows you to use your iMac as an external...